Duchy of Warsaw
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The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from the Polish lands he seized from the Kingdom of Prussia in Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was in personal union with Saxony under Frederick Augustus I as Duke of Warsaw (1807-1813).
The area of the Duchy had already been liberated by a popular uprising in 1806, provoked by proclamation of conscription to the Polish army. The first tasks for the new government included providing food to the French army which was fighting the Russians in East Prussia. According to the Treaties of Tilsit, the area of the Duchy was formed from the Prussian provinces:
- New East Prussia (except Bialystok district which was given to Russia)
- Southern Prussia (Second partition of Poland)
- New Silesia (Second partition of Poland)
- parts of West Prussia (mainly Netze district and Chelmno Land)
- Gdansk was made a free city with French and Polish garrisons there.
After the ensuing war with Austria in 1809 and the Battle of Raszyn, the Duchy was extended with land from the following provinces:
The area of the Duchy was 158,000 km˛ with a population of over 3 million.
| |||
| Location | |||
| Official languages | Polish | ||
| Established church | Roman Catholic | ||
| Capital | Warsaw | ||
| Largest City | Warsaw | ||
| Head of state | Duke of Warsaw | ||
| Area | about 158,000 km˛ | ||
| Population | about 3 million | ||
| Existed | 1807 - 1814 | ||
The Duchy was endowed with a formal constitution by Napoleon (see Constitution of Duchy of Warsaw).
Unlike the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Duchy was highly militarized and overtaxed. In 1812, the state of 3 million people contributed almost 200,000 army recruits for service against Russia.
Poles expected in 1812 that the duchy would be upgraded to the status of a kingdom, and that during Napoleon's march on Russia, it would be joined with the liberated territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, Napoleon didn't want to make a permanent decision that would tie his hands before the anticipated peace settlement with Russia. The Grand Duchy was not an independent state. Its ruler was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and it did not possess its own diplomatic representation. The Armed Forces were completely under French control via its war minister Józef Poniatowski, who was also a French marshal, and had to participate in Napoleon's campaigns.
After the fall of Napoleon, according to the Congress of Vienna (1815), the territory of the Duchy was divided into three parts:
- Kingdom of Poland in personal union with Russia - 128,000 km˛,
- Grand Duchy of Poznan in real union with Prussia - 29,000 km˛
- Free City of Kraków (under protection of the three powers, but in 1846 annexed by Austria) - roughly 1000 km˛ with 88,000 people.
See also:
- South Prussia (1793-1806)
- Grand Duchy of Poznan (1815-1848)
- Province of Posen (1949-1919)
- Reichsgau Wartheland (1939-1945)
- Poland (all other times)
- Poznan Voivodship
- Greater Poland Voivodship
- Poznan (city)
pl:Księstwo Warszawskie
